Taste of the outdoors

It’s winter, but while some may not be brave enough to dive into the surf in a 4/3 wetsuit, across Pacific Coast Highway you can still get a taste of the great outdoors.

On the first Saturday of every month, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is open for free tours, letting visitors explore the grounds on guided trails while learning about the story behind the wetlands. And it is quite a story.

The tidal lands were almost destroyed after the natural ocean inlet was closed for improved duck hunting, according to the Amigos de Bolsa Chica website. In the late 1970s, some Huntington Beach residents banded together to preserve the wetlands because they thought the much-needed habitat was overly developed.

Few coastal wetlands have been preserved in California, Bolsa Chica staff member Alexia Swanepoel said.

“There is something special about wetlands. They contain important elements for the health of the earth,” Swanepoel said.

“One by one, they have been destroyed.”

Recent research shows a steep ecological price would be paid for the destruction of the world’s wetlands, she said.

“It’s not just about not having homes built [on the land], it’s about the health of this planet,” she said.

The first goal of Amigos de Bolsa Chica, the group taking charge of the restoration and preservation of the wetlands since 1976, was to watch over the wetlands. But now the organization looks to teach future generations about the global importance of caring for these vital lands.

It’s a different Bolsa Chica since an inlet opened in August exposed the lands to ocean waters once again, Swanepoel said.

“People who have even been there before come out and see a different Bolsa Chica than they once knew,” she said.

For one thing, there are a lot more fish. The hope is that more birds, particularly endangered ones, will thrive there.

Tours start between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. and take a little more than one hour. The tours start at the south parking lot of the reserve, a half-mile south of Pacific Coast Highway and Warner Avenue, directly across the highway from the Bolsa Chica State Beach entrance.

“They’ll learn about the early history, the ecology and current events, management restoration, things like that,” Swanepoel said.

If you can’t make it Saturday, private tours can be scheduled all through the year For more information, call the Amigos de Bolsa Chica at (714) 840-1575.

Feel like getting your hands a little more in the dirt? Head down to Central Park where the Shipley Nature Center happily awaits volunteer pruners and weeders.

Years ago, the 1,500-square-foot park found itself overrun with foreign plant life, so to keep up with herbal invaders, locals remove the unwanted vegetation so natives species are free to grow. Now the weeding has blossomed into a monthly event.

From 9 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of each month, the Friends of the Shipley Nature Center invite the public to plant, weed, water or just walk among the grounds.

Free public tours begin at 11 a.m. Docents available to answer all sorts of nature-related questions can be found on almost every corner.

The center is at 6622 Lakeview Drive, near Edwards Street and Central Park Drive. Just follow a painted line on the walkway to the center’s front door. For more information, call (714) 842-4772 or visit www.shipleynature.org.